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McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown agreed with his new driver that eighth “exceeded where we were going to qualify”.

Norris’s teammate Carlos Sainz Jr was knocked out of the opening phase of qualifying and will start 18th, although this was exacerbated by the Spaniard being held up by Robert Kubica just as the Williams driver had an off in Q1.

“What you want your drivers to do is to do their job extremely well and not make mistakes, and they both did that,” said Brown.

“And Lando being a rookie, you'd be understanding if he did make a mistake, and he didn't.”

Sainz opted to use two sets of tyres in qualifying, compared to three for Norris, as he said he felt “pretty confident” after practice.

He was knocked out of Q1 after suffering a “problem with the engine” that cost him time on his banker lap, and then lapped just one tenth of a second slower than Raikkonen in 15th.

“We went into a second run and I was coming in much faster, there was a massive track evolution, and I was coming in with a lap good enough for the top 10,” Sainz explained.

“But unfortunately I found Robert with a puncture going into the last two corners, so you can imagine how frustrating that was.

“You can imagine I’m disappointed, because up until that point the weekend had been good, and when one car is in Q3 you want to have both of them there."